Spoilers First Reviews

[Tuskin38]

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Early Review: ‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 1 Deftly Balances Strong Characters, Star Trek Lore, And Different Tones

Read our spoiler-free review.

trekmovie.com

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY’s First Class Has a Promising Start — Our Spoiler-Free Review

The first classes at STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY begin next Thursday, and here’s our spoiler-free review of the upcoming season!

blog.trekcore.com

60 years later, Star Trek puts a fresh spin on the franchise by embracing an unlikely trope

Starfleet Academy combined tributes to Deep Space Nine and Voyager with Animal House-style antics

www.polygon.com

 

[Michael]

Highlights from Jessie’s review of the first six episodes:

Spoiler: First six episodes of SFA

• She says she came “into the show hostile”, almost dreading to watch it because of her disappointment with Trek lately (season 3 of Strange New Worlds and Section 31 specifically). But after the first three episodes she started to love it. She implores viewers to at least stick with it until episode five, which she considers one of the best episodes of Trek period.
• Episodes 1–3 are rather trope-y, with lots of of the kind of “teen drama” you would expect.
• Negatives are that the language seems “too modern day”, especially from the cadets and within those first three episodes.
• But episode 4 (which apparently reveals the backstory of Jay-Den) and especially episode 5 (which focusses on SAM) are what brought her over. Episode 5 also happens to be the one co-written by Tawny Newsome.
• She was disappointed by Paul Giamatti’s Nus Braka at first (“discount Harry Mudd” that’s over the top), but says in a later appearance he’s really good.
• She loves Lura Thok, who apparently is the main comic relief for the show.
• Apparently the “War College” is the military wing of the Federation, which “allows for an interesting conversation about whether Starfleet is a military or not”.
• The show “does not run away from queerness”. It has a “wonderful, natural and very Trek-y queerness”.
• What she’s dreading is the “culture war nonsense” the show is very likely going to face and expects many reviewers will take specific elements from the show to make bad faith arguments about it.

Overall this has me very excited to check it out. Next week can’t come soon enough!

 

[eschaton]

Looking at the reviews, the first few episodes are apparently a bit middle of the road, but by mid season, it picks up. Everyone's picking out Episode 5 (written by Tawny Newsom and Kirsten Beyer) as a standout - possibly one of the best episodes in Trek history.

And it's an episodic show, not serialized! Which is a welcome surprise.

Edit: Apparently Episode 5 is focused on SAM (the episode which goes into her background), and has some sort of DS9 tie-in.

 

[Michael]

Bits and pieces from the other three reviews @Tuskin38 posted upthread:

Spoiler: First six episodes of SFA

• Tilly is not in those first six episodes.
• All reviews seem to concur that episode five is really good. The Polygon article calls it “an extended tribute to Deep Space Nine” and I’m wondering what that will mean.
• The other reviews seem to agree that viewers should keep with the show until the mid-point of the season, when it picks up in quality.
• Apparently for the first time in a while in Trek the stakes are smaller scale, which is appreciated.
• There’s a location on campus named after Hoshi Sato.
• Caleb Mir is a skilled engineer. That’s interesting and the first time I’m hearing that. Is that the first time an engineer is the main character of a Trek show?

 

[NCC-73515]

Ep1 is 75 min long and called Kids These Days.

There will be unexpected cameos, and E5 really will be about...

Spoiler

Sisko!

Can you imagine actually getting that actor back? Can't wait to see this place explode XD

 

[Michael]

Fingers crossed they don’t fuck it up. I still shudder thinking back to Picard’s attempt at a callback to Deep Space Nine in season three. I’d rather they leave well enough alone when it comes to Deep Space Nine, to be honest.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Fingers crossed they don’t fuck it up. I still shudder thinking back to Picard’s attempt at a callback to Deep Space Nine in season three. I’d rather they leave well enough alone when it comes to Deep Space Nine, to be honest.

Reviewers are calling episode 5 exceptional, so I have high hopes.

 

[Rahul]

The first Reviews are out, specifically this one from Trekmovie:

Trekmovie review - first 6 episodes

As for the series itself, it’s a bit of a show of two halves. On the one hand, you’ve got good old ship-based fun—albeit of the Discovery type with battles, flashy effects, and lots of inspirational character moments. On the other, you’ve got a school show with well-worn teen issues (annoying roommates, practical jokes, and an abundance of hormones) including the cliche of a rivalry with a school sharing their space: the War College.

This one might be the best "condensed" recap of the show - no big suprise in there (expect that one spoiler at the end).

And it seems clear this team has learned something from both Discovery and Picard: The stakes don’t always have to be the entire universe

This might be the best news for me on there!

I mean, the review is just for the first 6 episodes, so it still might go sideways for the finale - but it seems they tackled the biggest issue of the Kurtzman-era: Galaxy-endering stakes, which destroy any nuanced plot & always lead to low-budget superhero movie finales.

Ultimately, if Kurtzman’s output hasn’t done it for you to date, it’s unlikely Academy will win you over, but not impossible.

Me being 1 out of 3 for Kurtzman Trek shows (I love SNW - but think DIS & PIC are at the bottom of Trek shows) and 1 out 12 for Kurtzman movies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Kurtzman#Filmography) - I like Mission Impossible III - rest not so much) - I guess ultimately this show will not really be my cup of tea.

But it sounds promising enough that I will give it a chance.

 

[Rahul]

As for who the show is for, like most Kurtzman-era shows, its target audience is a demographic that hasn’t paid much attention to Star Trek.

This one might be the biggest issue - and the thing that plagues the entire streaming Trek era:

Ultimately, all of Kurtzman Trek shows chase that non-Trekkie audience - and fall completely flat on this goal, with their only audience being slightly annoyed old and grandfathered-in Trek fans.

Except for "Lower Decks", which is the only Trek show specifically aimed at Trekkies - and ironically the only one that I, as a hardcore Trekkie, can unequivocally recommend to my non-Trekkie fans.
Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere?

 

[Michael]

Moved all posts concerning the early reviews from the general discussion thread to this one specifically about the reviews.

Hope this doesn’t cause any confusion, but it’s good to have it all in one place.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Trek Culture's spoiler free takes on 1-6

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[eschaton]

This one might be the biggest issue - and the thing that plagues the entire streaming Trek era:

Ultimately, all of Kurtzman Trek shows chase that non-Trekkie audience - and fall completely flat on this goal, with their only audience being slightly annoyed old and grandfathered-in Trek fans.

Except for "Lower Decks", which is the only Trek show specifically aimed at Trekkies - and ironically the only one that I, as a hardcore Trekkie, can unequivocally recommend to my non-Trekkie fans.
Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere?

I think aiming for a new audience isn't a bad thing in principle. The thing is that the only real time that happened was with TNG, and it was just kind of by accident. the rest of Berman Trek just coasted on people who were already bought into the franchise.

 

[fireproof78]

Entertaining the broadest possible audience has been a mandate from the word go. Abrams, Meyer and TNG did a good job doing that after TOS.

 

[Michael]

Trek Culture's spoiler free takes on 1-6

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Nice! Seán is spilling the beans on the episode titles:

1x01 Kids These Days
1x02 Beta Test
1x03 Vitus Reflux
1x04 Vox In Excelso
1x05 Series Acclimation Mil
1x06 Come, Let’s Away

 

[Verteron]

The TrekMovie review is up

They are usually rabidly pro-nuTrek, probably to maintain access. But honestly, it seems even they are struggling to put a positive spin on this show.

Some quotes:

Spoiler: Character of Ake

Like Pelia, Ake is an unconventional, quirky character who may not be for everyone

Urgh

Spoiler: Character of Sam

Sam... although she appears to be in her late teens, she’s newly created, and Brooks plays her with the enthusiasm and curiosity of a small child. Admittedly, this may be irritating to some at first,

Argh

Spoiler: Character of Thok

Lura Thok, a half Jem’Hadar/half Klingon who serves as cadet master of the Academy... Fortunately, Yashere—a British comedian—brings some much-needed humor to her performance

Ick

Spoiler: Character of the Dean

Stephen Colbert has a small part as the digital dean of the academy—a voice-only role limited to making witty daily announcements over the PA to the cadets, some of which work better than others

Oof

Spoiler: The overall tone

For older fans, the cadet hijinks, rivalries, and romances might be a little much. Fans of “traditional” Trek may initially feel discouraged by the YA feeling of some of the earlier episodes.

Right

Spoiler: The target audience

Its target audience is a demographic that hasn’t paid much attention to Star Trek. Ultimately, if Kurtzman’s output hasn’t done it for you to date, it’s unlikely Academy will win you over, but not impossible. It sticks a bit closer to its Discovery origins than fellow spin-off Strange New Worlds

 

[Michael]

^ Moved your post to the dedicated early review thread.

Will you, though?

 

[Turtletrekker]

The TrekMovie review is up

They are usually rabidly pro-nuTrek, probably to maintain access. But honestly, it seems even they are struggling to put a positive spin on this show.

Some quotes:

Urgh

Argh

Ick

Oof

Right

Spoiler: The target audience

Its target audience is a demographic that hasn’t paid much attention to Star Trek. Ultimately, if Kurtzman’s output hasn’t done it for you to date, it’s unlikely Academy will win you over, but not impossible. It sticks a bit closer to its Discovery origins than fellow spin-off Strange New Worlds

View attachment 51116

I never even for a second expected anything else from you. Buh-byeeee!

 

[Verteron]

I'm not going anywhere! I like observing trainwrecks!

 

[Lord Garth]

So, basically, the sense I'm getting is Late-Discovery meets Prodigy.

 

[fireproof78]

I never even for a second expected anything else from you. Buh-byeeee!

There's that consistency.